Broadcaster and magazine publisher Norah Casey is to step down from her role co-presenting Newstalk Breakfast for personal reasons. Ms Casey’s last show will be next Thursday, but she is expected to return to the radio station in the autumn to host a weekend programme.

It is understood that Ms Casey, whose husband Richard Hannaford died in October 2011, has decided to cut back on her work commitments in order to spend more time with her teenage son.

Newstalk is expected to announce further changes to its weekend schedule next week.

The Communicorp-owned station’s political correspondent Shane Coleman will co-host the weekday breakfast show alongside Chris Donoghue until a permanent replacement for Ms Casey is found.

The former “Dragon” on RTÉ’s Dragon’s Den began co-presenting the breakfast show last September. It is the second-biggest programme on Newstalk, attracting 121,000 listeners, according to Joint National Listenership Research figures.

Earlier this year, Ms Casey filmed the first series of RTÉ’s business programme The Takeover.